


Not For The Cameras

by Chyme



Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Aliens Made Them Do It, Anal Sex, Condoms, First Time, Interspecies Sex, Kissing, M/M, Nipple Licking, Porn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-03-20
Packaged: 2018-05-26 14:44:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6243751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chyme/pseuds/Chyme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aliens made them do it. No, really.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not For The Cameras

**Author's Note:**

> You know that cliché of ‘aliens made them do it’ that infects almost every sci-fi fandom? Yep, let’s go and fall headlong into it.

 

Today was a Tuesday. Bad things always happened on a Tuesday. Ben should have remembered that.

‘Release us at once!’

Rook hammered on the door in front of them, his face twisted in the kind of anger Ben rarely saw on him, and never enjoyed when he did. The guy’s teeth were bared and his eyes were flashing in that odd jungle-cat-concealed-in-the-gloom-kinda-way that Ben had seen on documentary channels, ones where tigers came leaping out of darkness as their stripes fell out besides the spiky twists of leaves and long grass. It was as though they had been forcibly divided through mitosis, abruptly killing what little camouflage they once held.

Not that Rook was suited for such camouflage in this place. No, not at all. His fur and armour were bad contrasts to the murky yellow that pasted the walls, a yellow that Ben suspected should have been as bright and cheerful as the shade that decorated the insides of buttercups, but under the dim lighting of the lamps melded into the walls; they appeared dreary and weak instead, watered down into the gloomy burn of colour that often infected parchment.

The only other colour seemed to be the spill of navy that swept across an old bed, in a duvet that was rigged across a rather stiff looking mattress. Ben glanced at it and then laughed as his eyes caught hold of the pillow on top, likening it to the way hotel-housekeepers tended to prop them up against the headboard. In fact, this little room they were enclosed in seemed to be rather reminiscent of all the cheap, dusty accommodation motels seemed to offer on Earth. There was even a portrait of a sailboat hung up against one of the walls, and, on the side of the bed, a small chest of drawers which Ben was willing to bet held a Bible or a magazine or something. And since he was bored and the Omnitrix was timed out...

Ben shrugged and plopped down to the bed, hands already rifling through the drawers in his quest to find something even half-way interesting.

‘You are violating at least seven codes of professional conduct in this system and deliberately violating the Plumb-‘

Ben tuned out Rook’s oh-so-impressive negotiation technique and rolled his eyes as he unearthed a Bible.

‘Yeah, I don’t think they’re listening, Rook.’

Rook shot him a glare from over his shoulder and after giving the door knob in his hand a frustrated twist (very authentic, Ben noted, especially as the aliens in charge didn’t actually _need_ door knobs) Rook let out an annoyed huff and strode over to Ben.

‘You could always grant me your assistance,’ he pointed out icily.

Ben smirked up at him. ‘Relax; they can’t make us do anything we don’t want to. Besides if you can’t break down this door, I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to either – not until the Omnitrix is back up and running again, at least.’

Rook let out a contemptuous laugh and shook his head. ‘There is not much chance of _that,_ I am afraid. This place is shielded, with duchoral transmissions. I picked up the readings on my Proto-Tool, before they forcibly removed it from my hands.’ At this reminder Rook’s fingers curled, pumping up into fists and, noticing, Ben tried to gentle his smirk, to make it reassuring in response.

‘Duchoral what?’

Rook sighed. ‘Let us say that is a rather effective form of radio transmission, one that alters the signals the Omnitrix gives out on a subatomic level. Did you not think it strange that you could not transform earlier when they first seized us?’

Ben shifted, discomfort gnawing at his gut. ‘Well, yeah, but the Omnitrix is always bugging out for some reason or other. I figured it would pass like usual.’

‘No,’ said Rook firmly, crossing his arms as though to finalise the point. ‘That is most unlikely.’

‘Okaay,’ drawled Ben. ‘Well, we’re not in a dungeon or being tortured or anything, so we’re okay for-' he cut himself off at the way Rook was frowning at him. ‘What?’

‘Ben,’ the Revonnahgander said, his voice gentling for an instant as though Ben was being a very small child.  ‘They said they wanted to see how a set of bipedal mammals could-’

‘‘-Mate,’’ Ben finished, enclosing the word in air quotations with a roll of his eyes. ‘Yeah, I know Rook, I was there, remember? I was just pointing out the positive part of the situation, like the fact that there have been no death threats, at least not yet.’

Rook shook his head, his mouth twisting. ‘You fail to realise the severity of the situation. I know this species – they’re written as the villains in many an intergalactic novel featuring erotic content for a reason, and their incessant addiction to researching and reproducing the pornographic media of other species is second to none. A vile, atrocious act-‘

Ben’s brain, meanwhile, had somehow crashed at hearing the words ‘erotic’ and ‘pornographic’ come out of Rook’s mouth.

‘What?’ he asked, struggling to see past the haze in his own mind.

‘-and now,’ continued Rook, having now worked himself firmly up into a rant, ‘they have placed _us_ into the same situation many an unlucky traveller has found themselves in!’

‘Wait, wait, wait,’ Ben interrupted, hands raised in a gesture that he had taught Rook meant _whoa, slow it down for me_. ‘...Are you seriously telling me that there is a species out there that goes around catching people and making them have sex with each other for their own sick enjoyment? And the Plumbers haven’t _done_ anything about it?’

Rook bristled. ‘It is very hard to arrest a whole species,’ he said curtly, in a tone Ben was sure meant _I’d like to see you try it_.

Ben sighed and held the bridge of his nose, pinching down hard enough to turn his vision black. ‘Okay, okay. Look, let’s not think about the serial rapists we’re stuck with for now and just...wait for someone to notice we’re gone. If it gets to be too much, I’ll help you throw a Bible at the door or something.’

Rook’s lips twitched at that. ‘How blasphemous of you,’ he said, relaxing enough to unclench his fists and finally settle himself at Ben’s side. The human watched as those long limbs draped over the edge of the bed like an additional duvet before he shrugged.

 ‘Yeah, well, if God is out there, I’m sure he’ll forgive the temper tantrum.’ He turned back to the chest of drawers, shoving the second one open and letting his fingers graze the wood lining inside. ‘Huh, guess they left us a packet of tissues or something,’ he said as his fingers pressed down to feel out the squidgy contours of his new prize, before he lifted it out into the dim light. Only to stare, in horror, at the packet of condoms his hand now held.

Immediately, he felt Rook tense at his side. ‘One size fits all,’ his friend said stiffly, his eyes no doubt taking hold of the colourful label attached to the packaging, and reading the advertisement there like a horror novel. ‘Well. At least they show a consideration for the sexual health of their unwilling participants, if not for their emotional and mental state.’

Ben said nothing. Instead, almost robotically his hand curled, before flinging the offending packet towards the door. They both watched in silence as it bounced off like a rubber ball, flopping down to settle onto the carpet like an irksome stain.

Rook cocked his head to one side. ‘That was no Bible,’ he said gravely.

Ben leaned forward and buried his head in his hands. ‘No,’ he squeaked, and then, shoving his fringe to one side, he turned far enough to glare. ‘Dude. You didn’t. Have to read it. _Aloud_.’ This last part was said between clenched teeth and Rook seemed to take notice, stiffening slightly.

‘I am sorry’ he said, in a tone that meant he really wasn't. ‘But I do not see why I should be punished because of the fascination our capturers have with the common breeding grounds of your species.’

Ben’s mouth dropped open. ‘Excuse me?!?’

Rook snorted and cast a heavily disapproving eye over their surroundings. ‘Ben, we are currently situated inside what looks to be the beginning of every bad Earth porno I have ever had the misfortune to stumble across.’

Wow, Ben thought. Classy. The guy managed to word that in such a way that it was impossible for him to pick apart the sentence in order to find teasing material. Or at least, he had made it very hard for Ben to needle him about the possibility that he had been _purposely_ looking for bad Earth pornos.

‘Huh,’ he said. ‘I don’t even wanna know what your browsing history looks like.’ Then at Rook’s glare, he held up a hand. ‘Alright, alright, so we’re not in a field on Revonnah, I’m sorry.’

He paused, waiting to see that irritable twitch tug on the expression on Rook’s face, before he grinned and continued. ‘And since I’m not your type anyway, I guess we’re stuck.’ He grinned again and nudged Rook in the side, ignoring the strange look the other gave him. ‘So, where’d you think the pervs stuck their cameras? I mean, they gotta be surveilling us, right? Wanna see if we can annoy them into letting us go? I’m a real good taunter. And you can...I know! You can lecture them about Revonnahgander customs! You can talk forever about stuff like that.’

Rook frowned. ‘You speak as though they would actually find that annoying.’

Ben shrugged. ‘Hey,’ he said, ‘you never know, right?’

 

\--------------------------

 

An hour later, Ben had thoroughly exhausted every spare nook and cranny the room had to offer. But, try as he might, there was no tell-tell gleam of a camera lens to be found.

‘Urgh!’ he said, flopping back onto the bed. ‘Lame! Why couldn’t these guys be Dr Animo levels of stupid!’

Rook opened an eye from the rather meditative stance he had taken up near the pillows, his long legs crossed over one another to take up a tight space that Ben felt rather uncomfortable invading. So he rolled himself away, the creases caused by his movement too far away to strike the taunt mountains of cloth rolled out to either side of Rook’s thighs. Then, with a great, exaggerated sigh, he kicked off his shoes, as though resigning himself to the idea of being stuck on a mattress for the un-seeable future.

‘Are you finished?’ Rook asked.

Ben huffed. ‘Yes,’ he muttered angrily, feeling resentful of the fact that he and Rook had seemed to swap roles. Now he was the one in danger of losing his temper entirely, and he didn’t like it. He cast an eye down at his Omnitrix and moodily huffed again at the way the criss-crossed lines on the screen stayed a resolute red, instead of moving over into their usual green.

Rook shook his head.

Ben sighed and pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. ‘Okay, what are the chances they’ll bring us food and water if we don’t participate in their...experiment?’

‘I would hate to venture a guess,’ said Rook dryly. ‘But the odds are not good.’

Ben bit his lip. It was stupid and if Rook freaked out...but man, was he _bored_. Taking a quick breath and reassuring himself that Rook wasn’t Kevin and therefore a lot less likely to punch him in the face, Ben crawled up the bed, his hands carefully smoothing out the mountains of rolled-up duvet he had been so careful to avoid before.

Rook watched him strangely. ‘Ben?’

Ben gulped, now level with Rook’s chest, and, as though fire were licking at his heels, quickly launched himself onto his knees, wrapping his arms round Rook’s neck in a clumsy embrace. Hopefully the cameras, wherever they were, couldn’t tell the difference between an awkwardly held hug and the grasp of a lover.

Rook stiffened, but failed to push Ben off and the human snuggled closer, as much as he dared, close enough to let his mouth drift down and stop near the other’s ear.

‘Kick the covers over us,’ he instructed in a harsh whisper. ‘They can’t get all huffy over what we don’t show them. And as long as they believe we’re doing it, then there’s no real problem, right?’

Truthfully, he didn’t have much faith in Rook’s acting skills. But he was both bored and a little nervous, worried already that their captors would have no problem letting them starve if they didn’t take part in this really, really freaky role-playing...thing. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time he had to do something stupid in order to escape.

He paused, feeling fur shift under his fingers, and a strange roll of movement passing through the muscle beneath the bend in his elbow as Rook swallowed, his breath hot against Ben’s left ear. And then he was lifted up, slightly above Rook’s lap, as he heard the soft slide of movement that meant Rook’s legs were uncurling from the creases they pressed against the bed. It was a little more raspy than Ben was used to, given that Rook had both fur and armour brushing against the linen that they were moving over, but still, at least the guy was following his orders.

Ben breathed, before he felt a flutter perch inside his stomach, all as he was rolled down into the darkness of Rook’s shadow. Then there was a brief snap of sound, like a camera going off, and Ben blinked, rolling his neck to the side as he furiously sought out the person responsible; only to feel rather foolish as Rook’s long arms stretched up, rolling off the sleeves of the armour as though it were nothing more than an itchy jumper.

Oh, thought Ben dimly, that’s right. Armour makes noise, even the kind that now, for some reason, was behaving as though it were nothing more than a simple sweat-shirt. And then, after watching the blue and the black peel away from Rook’s chest and neck in what was probably the weirdest strip-show Ben had ever been too, reality abruptly crashed back in.

‘Hey!’ he protested as Rook rolled back the top half of the armour to his waist, ‘I know you enjoy giving a hundred and ten percent to everything you do, but there is such a thing as being too dedicated to the craft, you know!’

‘How can one give more than a hundred percent?’ Rook asked, though he seemed to lack the usual earnest curiosity Ben was used to. ‘Besides,’ the Revonnahganger pointed out, leaning forward, near enough to press his next words out into a whisper: ‘they will never believe that we are being intimate with each other if we are both fully clothed. You should remove your T-shirt.’

And as though to give weight to these words, Ben felt fur press against the dip in his navel, all as his T-shirt rose up against the slight pressure of Rook’s fingers.

‘Hey, I can undress myself!’

Rook backed off, palms up as Ben wriggled up the bed, bouncing a few times to give himself the necessary leverage to thrust the offending material up over his neck. He must have looked a right dork doing it too, he thought glumly as the T-shirt went sailing off into the distance, landing with a distant thump on the carpet.

He then had just enough time to be exposed to the full glare of those pitiful lamps in the background, before Rook’s hand reached back behind them and the duvet flew up in a gust of navy movement, painting what little light there was into a blend of linen-stitched brushstrokes, both dull and drab, like gold turned to straw. Ben stared at the way the yellow was sieved through the threads surrounding their heads, an awkward glow patterning the very ends of Rook’s fur into a fibre-optic like-glow of points, as though the sun had caught on the tuffs of black and blue before it was pulled behind a cloud.

‘Even so, this will not fool them in the way you intend,’ Rook said gravely, his eyes now creepily brighter than the rest of him. ‘They will probably demand what you might call ‘an all access pass’ to the deed in question. They will wish to see us consummate our act of physical passion in great detail.’

Ben stared at him for a few moments. ‘Dude,’ he said finally, ‘why can’t you just call it ‘sex’ like everybody else?’

Rook sighed. ‘I am merely saying-‘

‘I get it,’ Ben interrupted, ‘I do, really, dude. But...I don’t have any other ideas. And if it might work...’

‘Then ‘full steam ahead?’ Rook asked, his mouth quirking slightly as he stroked Ben’s cheek. It was a very tender motion and one Ben could actually see pressing out against the world around them, the stray shadows of Rook’s fingers lengthening into nightmarish claws from where a corner of the duvet fell short. The material barely managed to cover the sharp slide of his shoulder, the remainder dappling its way down his arm like a creeper vine as it peeled back, providing a quick hole into the edge of their little world.

Ben shook himself and quickly blinked away the distraction. ‘And also,’ he said uneasily, ‘I didn’t expect you to throw the _whole_ duvet over our heads. Now they’ll probably say it was cheating, for sure. I figured that maybe we would just show our faces, make a few silly ones, l-like-’ he stuttered a little, his tongue tripping over the thought of saying ‘like we’re having an orgasm’ before he gave up and took the coward’s way out. ‘Like we’re goldfish or something.’ He  cringed, realising sullenly that Rook was probably the last person in the universe to understand the metaphor. ‘You know, with lots of opening and closing our mouths, moaning a-and stuff...’

‘Goldfish do not moan,’ Rook chided him, though he didn’t sound too serious as he did so. ‘But I can see your point.’

And with one brusque, brash movement, he let the duvet slide off his shoulders entirely, allowing it to pool down beneath the two separate arches of bone. With this rush of movement came the light, running its way back over the lines of his face and Rook blinked at its sudden presence, as though waking out of a hypnotic trance before casting his eyes down, over the space above Ben’s shoulder.

Considering the fact that there was nothing there but white bed-linen, Ben figured that the sight couldn’t have been an interesting one. But still he waited patiently...for about four seconds. And then up went his hands, catching the side of Rook’s neck as he fumbled for his shoulders.

‘Hey, what’s wrong?’

Which, Ben reflected, as Rook’s eyes snapped to his disbelievingly, was kinda a stupid question. After all, what wasn’t wrong? This entire situation was wrong.

‘I mean,’ he amended, ‘apart from me not being a hot girl.  Which, wow, feels really wrong to say out-loud.’ But Rook was beginning to look visibly distressed, so Ben hurriedly continued: ‘I mean, I can’t make you do any of this-’

‘Please stop,’ Rook said heavily, ‘that is not the issue.’

Ben frowned at this, because really? He kinda thought it would be an issue. A big one.

But Rook was already shaking his head, a look of shame crawling over his face. ‘I just can’t, Ben. I cannot do this.’

Ben froze a little at the contraction. Then he softened, his thumbs kneading into the fur at his fingertips as his voice slipped out, gentle and free. ‘What? What is it, buddy? C’mon, I won’t judge you.’ He hesitated. ‘You realise there’s no actual sex involved, right? I mean, you don’t have to worry about hurting me or anything, in case you have spikes down there, or a tentacle or something-’

At this, Rook drew back sharply. ‘What,’ he said cuttingly, ‘are you imagining?’

Ben flailed, his hands falling off those shoulder which suddenly seemed to rise, tall and imposing as though Rook was about to arch his back and hiss in his face. ‘Nothing! Nothing, I swear!’ he cried. ‘Look man, you’re an alien. I don’t know the ins and outs of your physiology!’

‘You would,’ said Rook sternly, ‘if you had ever bothered to read my file.’

Ben scowled. ‘No way, man. That’s creepy. Why would I read about something when I could just ask you directly? And if you don’t wanna answer, well then, it’s not exactly something I should know about in the first place, is it?’

Rook frowned, digesting this and Ben could see the way puzzle pieces were snapping together in his mind’s eye, collaborating the way Ben felt against Rook’s own usage of Ben’s file. Except they really didn’t have time for that.

‘Look,’ he said firmly. ‘I get it. Performing in front of a bunch of freaky voyeurs is screwed up, okay. I have a bit of stage fright too, not gonna lie-’                                                                 

Rook let out a snort at this, something that seemed to emerge from his throat mid-way as a growl. And then his hands closed in on Ben’s face, fingers scrapping down into the hollows of his outstretched neck to play with the rhythm of the pulse there, one that flittered away desperately underneath their heat. Ben felt it jolt inside him, like the sudden ring of a percussion instrument after the orchestral chorus had died down. But there was nowhere for him to back away into, not with the mattress at his back, and afraid as he was of this new fur-on-skin contact, he had enough time to see the shame on Rook’s face being swamped over with frustration, before it dived down towards his own.

And then Rook was kissing him.

‘Hey,’ said an annoying voice inside Ben’s head, ‘this was not part of the plan. And this,’ it added grumpily, as Rook’s tongue swirled in against the inside of his teeth, ‘is not acting.’ And then it shut up. Because (A) Rook was kissing him, and (B) Ben was a little worried that he couldn't remember when _precisely_ he had allowed his jaws to drop open to let Rook’s tongue dart inside. In fact, the whole experience was a little over-whelming.

Um, he thought, as something warm and familiar melted inside his stomach, forcing the centre of him to feel warm and tingly in a way that was a little _too_ familiar. _Hello_. This was new. And what exactly had happened to Rook’s whole blathering ‘I can’t’ excuse?

Because he was going to work, his tongue scraping down to tease the end of Ben’s own with a quick poke that turned into a battling slide of wet muscle. Ben felt something competitive rise in him at its touch, and he pressed up in retaliation, welding his arms round Rook’s neck as a brace as his own tongue shoved back, letting the fine hairs on Rook’s rip gently across its flanks. It didn’t hurt, thankfully, not quite as rough as the sandpaper-like texture on Earth’s own feline creatures. But it still felt like Ben was running his tongue against something that couldn’t dissolve in his mouth, like chewing-gum, something that didn’t yield, but held firm.

And yet, for all its inhuman flaws, it still made something coil tightly in his stomach, coil tightly and press, like a snake in his gut, hard enough for electricity to dart down his spine to rest and stir along the length of his crotch.

Ben was a little too lost in the kiss to grimace, but still he shifted, a dull haze of panic urging him to move, to twist away from the length of Rook that lay along the lines of his own body, to spread himself, wider, thinner, to escape before-

Rook pressed down a little harder, something definitely closer to a growl than a snort running out of his throat and into Ben’s own. It reverberated like a purr, pouring into the open lines of Ben’s mouth as though it were a telephone cord and Ben shivered at this strange invasion, at the vibration it held, and at the way it seemed to make him rock up and press against Rook with a whimper – and freeze.

It took him less than a second to realise that yes, he was pressing his erection against his friend’s thigh, and that, yes, tented as it was by his clothes and the solid slide of Rook’s armour, there was no way his partner couldn’t notice. The next second, he realised that it wasn’t alone. Because Rook, with another growl, ground down, forcing Ben’s hips back to the bed as the solid line of his own ah, _problem_ pressed down with all its slender weight.

Ben wanted to giggle. No, not giggle. Scream, yes, that was it. It’s all physiological, he chanted to himself as Rook finally lifted his lips from his own, it’s all physiological, nothing wrong with two guys helping each other out, it’s not as though it’s never happened before, because _hello_ , he’s seen enough on the internet to _know_. And was this really much different?

‘Rook,’ he said, or wanted to say, feeling his heart bury itself somewhere near his feet as it came out as more of a whimper.

Rook stared at him. ‘Yes?’ he asked, sounding absolutely wrecked, but there was an undercurrent of fear there, Ben could tell by the tremble of sound that shook the very contours of that word apart.

‘We’re just...acting, right?’

‘You are free to think of it as you wish,’ Rook said, though his tone was deliberately blank. ‘Just as I am free to think of anything I choose. But it is a big universe out there, Ben,’ –and here, and perhaps a little cruelly, he pressed down again, letting his hips flex with a practised roll that left Ben whimpering, arching up for more of that delicious touch, burdened as it no doubt was by clothes and then the sudden space that yawned between them as Rook drew back and away. – ‘And I am not small enough to paste a label on this,’ Rook added, a little too grandly for Ben’s taste.

So he scowled up at his friend, hoping he didn’t look as ruffled as he felt. ‘Okay, now I know that’s a lie. You like to label everything. You thrive on it, dude.’

Rook frowned. ‘I do not. Name one instance.’

Ben screwed his face up. ‘Oh Fistina, there’s no such thing as a three-person date! Polygamy doesn’t exist!’

Rook stared down at him in surprise, perhaps, Ben thought smugly, because he had come up with a decent point.

‘How did you- you were not there!’

‘Robucket’s everyone’s friend, dude,’ said Ben a little too smugly. ‘He feeds video footage of certain moments to anyone who’s nice to him.’

Rook shook his head and grumbled to himself. And Ben, half-fearful that he was about to be punished by another sly roll of those hips, suddenly blurted out: ‘Besides, what happened to ‘I can’t do this, Ben!’ Because apparently, you actually can.’

Rook stared down at him. ‘It was never a matter of whether I could actually perform,’ he said with all the dignity he could muster, and, as though to reinforce his point, his hips swooped down again to graze Ben’s crotch in a careful tug of movement.

Ben let out a gasp and thrust out a hand, the palm crushing against Rook’s chest in a much clumsier, but no less heavy motion. ‘Stop that!’ he hissed. ‘That’s...’

‘It feels good, yes?’ Rook said abruptly. ‘I know it does, I can see that much. But I have no wish to shatter your perception of yourself. And that will happen, if we continue.’

‘Dude,’ said Ben dryly. ‘For the last time: IT’S ALL _PRETEND_!’ And if his voice squeaked a little on the last word, he pretended not to notice. ‘Man,’ he complained, ‘I expected you to be shyer than this.’

 ‘Pretend or not, the enjoyment of my partner should always come first,’ Rook said firmly.

And with that, he bent to kiss Ben again. Except this time, Ben was ready. He threw himself up, tilted his head to the side and changed the angle of his tongue as it slid up past the sanctuary of his own mouth and into the surprised cavern of Rook’s own. Not that it would last; Ben held no illusion about Rook’s recovery time. But Rook wasn’t the only one with experience here. And Julie had always been a patient tutor, gently explaining, between each mishap of bruised lips and slammed teeth, that sometimes you needed to tread softly in order to rack up a deeper appreciation for the moment. In some ways, Rook was a lot like her, what with his patience and quiet sense of happiness at indulging in the company of others-.

Oh no, thought Ben with a gnawing hole in his stomach. Help. I actually have a type.

But ruthlessly, he pushed the revelation aside. Because right now, he had a job to do. He drew his tongue back lightly, almost as though to invite Rook into a game of tag, before he twisted the tip upwards and ran it along the rim of Rook’s mouth, right where the heat gave way to the skin that held the outer layer of fur. It felt a little different, of course; Rook’s lips didn’t extend outwards into a nub of upraised flesh the way the lips of Ben’s previous partners had (and hell, female Revonnahganders’ lips seemed to fall into this same pattern, with a distinct lack of fur over their ends; a weird biological quirk for only half of a fur-covered species to have, but whatever).

At any rate, Ben moistened the line of flesh that fell down like a secret pocket between those sharp teeth and the spikes of fur under Rook’s nose, quickly flicking his tongue like a snake. Already he could feel Rook surging forward, pressing him down to the bed more firmly as though that would be enough to render him still.

No, not yet, Ben thought, and slyly, with a curl of his fingers, he reached round and rubbed Rook beneath the chin. It was like a magic spell. Rook practically collapsed on top of him, chest lank and loose against his own as his hands came round to claw at the sheets at Ben’s sides.

Yeah? thought Ben. Like that, do you? And his other hand came up to join the first, reaching under and rubbing that large chin, digging into the very strands attached and scratching lightly in a way they had done before on smaller mammals, ones that crept round feet and pushed arching backs against cloth-bound legs.

Rook let out an unsteady moan as his spine curved, a pulse running down beneath the fur on his back as he shifted onto top of Ben’s chest. Ben didn’t mind too much; Rook wasn’t overwhelming heavy the way other aliens were, and his fur was pressing in nice and close, warm enough to chase away the chill that now permeated the air and affected his own less-protected human skin.

Ben grinned as he drew his mouth away, back into his own personal space and decided to show Rook some pity. With a soft sigh, he let his hands drift up to nestle at the Revonnahgander’s cheeks, brushing up in long, strong strokes that smoothed out the slightly bristling ends.

‘You really are like a cat, huh, buddy?’

Rook seemed to regain some of his focus at that, because he opened his eyes, just enough to offer Ben a thin, slanted glare, before he tore his head free from his questing fingers. Then his chest lifted away and Ben barely had time to mourn the warmth it had provided, before something wet slathered its way over his right nipple.

‘Oh yuck, come on dude- _oh_.’

For Rook had nipped lightly at the soft flesh surrounding it, drawing it up into his mouth softly before he blew a slow rush of warm breath onto its side - as though to soothe it - before he bit down gently again. Ben shivered slightly, imagining that talented mouth on a place somewhere further down his anatomy and felt himself relax slightly, his mind drifting as Rook lavished the same attention on his other nipple. It wasn’t that he wasn’t taunt, ready, turned on- it was just that he hadn’t expected to be treated like this.

Rook resurfaced, turning his head to beam at Ben directly. ‘I have never done this with another male before! Thankfully, the practise isn’t too dissimilar from pleasuring a female. It is, as you would say, like learning to ride a bike!’ he said excitedly before his face fell at the dark look Ben was giving him, and he quickly amended, ‘...in no way at all. Yes, you are quite right.’

Ben wrinkled his nose. ‘You’re the one who’s got the lean angular frame here, all angles and spronkets; if anyone resembles a bike, it’s gonna be you,’ he muttered, casting an eye on the long, trim length of Rook’s arm and thoroughly ignoring how Rook, in turn, threw a disbelieving glance over his own skinny form.

‘...Alright.’ But still the Revonnahgander could not quite stop his smile, attempting to hide it from Ben’s annoyed eyes by turning his head and kissing a nipple, rolling the other carefully between his finger and thumb as he did so.

Ben let a soft groan, suitably distracted before Rook shimmied his way downwards, more of the duvet falling away from his body and leaking a trail of discarded bed-sheets in their wake. But then again, neither of them, at this point, were remotely within the realm of caring.

Almost hypnotically Ben felt himself lift his hips up at Rook’s urging, material falling away into fingers that were not his own. Coldness touched him, made him throb even harder, especially as there was more noise in the background, and Rook’s shadow, now a little lighter without the duvet to surround them, stretched over his stomach, long tendrils ripping from its side as Rook shoved off the rest of the Proto-Armour off, his underwear quickly joining its sullen form at his feet. And then, for a moment, everything Rook disappeared.

Ben had enough time to realise that his socks had also disappeared before he heard the sound of footsteps being swallowed up the carpet and he frowned, his mind buzzing as he heard something wooden and heavy slam out near his side with a sharp click. It seemed to pierce the haze of his mind and he glanced up, only to feel relief dip down into his stomach as Rook returned, the packet of condoms carefully clenched between his fingers. His other hand, Ben noticed, was holding something that gleamed, a glass bottle that caught the light as it twinkled. It made Ben want to laugh. Calm, diligent Rook! Always looking for the right tools to get the job done.

‘Something you wanna tell me?’ he murmured, wondering idly why he wasn’t panicking more.

Rook threw him a confused look as he climbed back onto the bed again, his long limbs making easy work of covering the space between them. And then he was up, near Ben’s knees, fingers hooking into their undersides as he pushed them apart, keeping the touch gentle as though he feared squeezing too hard might break the hum of energy between them.

‘No,’ he said, ‘unless you actually want to tell me ‘no’ and stop this, then I have nothing to tell you.’

Ben huffed out a breath between his teeth. But the moment for making a joke about space STDs had passed. And honestly...did he want to stop? He frowned at the thought. It seemed like something he should care about. But everything else felt so nice and slow and good and it had been a while at least, since he had experienced being close with someone in this way. After Julie, he hadn’t had too many opportunities for this sort of thing.

He hummed. ‘What, no blow-job?’ he asked, half-curious to see if Rook would get the reference. For all he knew, in space they used different euphemisms.

But Rook gave him a considering look, so apparently not. Either the term held universal appeal, or he’d simply picked up the lingo while on Earth.

‘Maybe another time, if you will allow me the opportunity,’ he simply said, before his head dove down between Ben’s legs, a look of fierce concentration on his face. It made Ben want to laugh again.

But that urge quickly fled as something pushed into him, wet and cold, the bedraggled ends of the fur weighed down with whatever gleaming fairy-dust that glass bottle had possessed. Ben wriggled, shifting uneasily as his muscles burnt, the small shot of pain magnifying Rook’s finger into something a lot scarier than it had any right to be.

‘Rooook...’ he whined, suddenly feeling a lot sharper than he had been moments before.

‘Hush,’ Rook murmured, and Ben winced as a second finger slowly slid in to join the first. ‘If you really can’t stand it, feel free to kick me in the face; but gently please, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t aim for either of my eyes.’

Ben stared down in disbelief. The guy was insane! But he had no time to voice this out loud because a third finger was pressing in, spreading him like margarine and he pressed his face to the side with a whimper.

‘Ben?’ The fingers froze and Ben felt, more than saw, Rook stretch up, those eyes hooked on his face. And it was stupid, he was stupid, but Ben still felt compelled to open his eyes, to stare back at the worry he knew would be there and soothe it somehow.

‘I’m still breathing,’ he offered, his grin a little shaky, but Rook’s eyes were already travelling down from his face and coming to rest on his erection, seeing it half-wilted by the intensity of the last half-minute. Ben barely had time to breathe, to offer a clever rejoiner, before the fingers of Rook's spare hand came up to scatter a series of rough strokes across the surface, nudging it up into the makeshift cocoon of his palm to warm it with his touch.

Ben whimpered again and Rook smiled a little sadly, turning to nudge a small lick into the hollow near his left knee.

‘The offer to kick me in the face still stands.’

Ben coughed out a laugh. ‘There was lubricant in the drawer?’ he found himself asking.

‘In the third one, the one you failed to check,’ Rook answered, half-distracted as his eyes turned back to the place where a part of his hand was still wedged inside Ben’s body.

‘The condemns put me off, dude...you are wearing one, right?’

‘Of course. Interspecies coupling is not a phenomenon widely practised on Revonnah and I am loathe to expose you to any unnecessary risks until I know for sure that I cannot do you any harm with, do you call it bare-back? Yes, I-’

Ben sighed and abruptly lifted his leg up, pressing the ball of his foot into Rook’s brow. ‘Jeez,’ he said fondly, feeling his lips quirk. ‘Shut it.’

He allowed his foot to slide off, to settle into the gap between Rook’s neck and shoulder and nudge against the fur there, feeling far too lazy to drag it back down to the ground. A few crinkles formed above Rook’s nose in response as he stared back at him. And then, more determinedly, Ben felt those fingers wriggle up inside him. One of them twisted slightly, or at least, to Ben it felt like it twisted, because all of a sudden the world turned inside out and-

‘AH!’

‘Bingo,’ said Rook softly, drawing his fingers out with a wet pop.

Ben lay there, panting, shivers of electricity coursing up his spine and chipping at the bone there, knocking pieces of his soul off as Rook slid up over him, eyes dark and intent. Ben felt himself rolled over slightly, one leg still propped against Rook's body and stretched towards the ceiling as Rook shifted the other out and away, letting it lean against the sheets. Ben stared at it, at the long pale line of it and the lonely way it meshed against the bed, before he felt something significantly larger than Rook’s fingers nudge at the space where that wonderful surge of electricity had come from.

He turned his head quickly, the gravity falling out of his stomach as Rook propped himself up on his knees, one hand resting on Ben’s hip while the other reached up to shift through his hair.

‘I won’t do this unless you’re fully awake to see me,’ he said firmly.

Wow, okay, a contraction. But Ben could think of nothing witty to say, so he simply nodded slowly, and allowed Rook to push in.

At first, nothing spectacular happened. Well, nothing spectacular for Ben. Rook on the other hand was gulping like the goldfish Ben had told him to pretend to be earlier. Honestly, he looked hilarious, his face screwed up in a mimicry of pain as he let out a hiss of breath.

‘Bet you wish you hadn’t bothered with the condom now, huh?’ Ben asked softly as he felt himself pulled apart, before his insides rushed back together to form a molten heap as Rook drew out.

And yep, there was that annoyed tick of the brow as Rook thrust back in, more sharply this time and Ben was forced to let out a harsh breath, because, oh yeah, he felt _that_.

He groaned a little, shoving his hips up as Rook slammed down, the action managing to squash a little heat up into Ben’s veins, or at least into the places where it felt like there should be veins. In reality, it felt more like a strike of airy pressure that swept up under his skin in feather-light strokes, undulating like waves, in motions that felt too liquid to be simple sensation. It was slow and tremulous, but continued to grow as he was fucked, the waves rearing up into something bright and crazy and brimming with slow, orgasmic heat, before Rook gave a strange swivel of his hips and suddenly Ben was choking on the pleasure, feeling it swirl up inside him in a spill of bliss that scored the underside of his brain with all the sharp strike of a talon. Gone, at once, was the feather-like softness of before.

‘Rook!’

‘Yeees...’ hissed his partner, eyes mere slits of gold and sounding very unlike himself.

‘Rook!’

‘I hear you, have you, hush...’

‘No, no, don’t understand, right there, like that...’

‘I do understand,’ Rook murmured, almost purred, as he leant down, Ben’s body snapping back with a taunt cry as he shoved himself in as far as he could go. ‘I understand Ben.’ And then that tongue scraped down against Ben’s fringe, letting the wet ends hang down near Ben’s closed eyelids like a curtain, and the human could feel him _there_ , hovering like a hawk, enjoying the new rush of sound as it poured out from Ben’s throat in a mingled yelp of noise.

And then Rook drew back. And thrust forwards again, Ben’s pleas, his cries, tugging him back like an unseen leash.

And then-

‘Rook. I’m gonna, I can’t-‘

‘My name...’ hissed the Revonnahgander, ‘my other one. Use it.’

A small smidgen of awareness crept into Ben then, and he stared up into those eyes, narrowed with some sort of predatory glee which strangely, he didn’t find threatening at all.

‘Blonko,’ he breathed out, feeling the unfamiliar syllables race out and stain the air with something that felt incredibly intimate. And Rook’s eyes widened, broken free from their diamond-like slant into something orange and wild and quite lovely and oh, he hoped he didn’t look stupid, all greasy and pale and sweaty, his hair coated with slime, though that was totally Rook’s or rather _Blonko’s_ fault-

All thought swept away, came to a crashing halt as a hand found his erection and gave it a small, soft squeeze. The other was still at his hip, fastened into the shallow curve of bone there, strong enough to leave the sharp sting of a bruise behind as Rook plunged in again, hard enough to leave an impact inside the very core of him. And Ben cried out, he couldn’t help it, as pleasure rushed up inside of him like noise, warm and simmering and then, without warning, abruptly reaching a boil.

As though he were psychic, Rook threw himself down with a snap of motion, his fur _slamming_ instead of _brushing_ over Ben's skin as those strong shoulders came down to shudder out near his partner's straining neck. Ben’s mouth immediately tangled with the fur that smudged into his face there, a sharp pain pinning his neck to the bed as though to hammer the final nail in his self-restraint. And the jolt that ran through him then, was large and bright, like colour without shape.

Ben gasped, the high reached, toppled over, spiking his shout as all of him was infused with an orgasm so strong that it shook him. Wetness spread against his stomach, the fullness of before evaporating even as he felt himself moved, his body still jogged by one last savage thrust from Rook.

He lay there, feeling selfish as his senses slowly crept back into his clearing mind, just enough to recognise that strange disquiet that always happened right after he came. Dimly, he registered Rook breathing against his skin, the feel of him warm and steady and _still,_ even as the heat of his mouth, tugged open by the teeth he had lodged into Ben's neck, pressed against his pulse like a live thing.

For they were still joined, connected, even without the rhythmic tug of motion of before - but now it was beginning to feel distinctly unpleasant. Ben grimaced as he felt their stomachs mesh together with the cold, sticky glue of his cum.

‘Guess...’ he struggled to speak, the aftershock sending quivers into his voice. ‘Guess...that’ll be a pain to wipe...off your fur, huh?’

A rumble ran through Rook, not quite a groan and not quite a growl and he, a little too calmly Ben felt, removed his teeth from Ben’s neck.

‘Okay, I did _not_ give you permission to give me a hickey.’

‘You look quite fetching with it, I assure you,’ Rook said, a strange light in his eyes as he stroked it over with his fingertips. It was like he was admiring a fancy jewel rather than an actual wound. ‘Do not worry; I would not bite hard enough to make you bleed.’

Ben rolled his eyes. ‘Well, thank goodness for that.’

‘Indeed,’ A slight scowl emerged on his face. ‘Some Revonnahganders are a little too harsh in their sexual exploits. And I was raised better than to expect another to bear a scar.’

Ben stared at him for a moment. ‘Right,’ he said rolling his hips, just enough to get Rook to start and shudder. ‘Get out of me, Blonko.’

Rook stared at him wide-eyed. But hastily rushed to obey all the same.

 

\--------------------------

 

‘Oh God. Oh God, oh God.’

Ten minutes later, Ben had firmly rolled himself up in the sheets, too distraught to even find his clothes, which Rook had taken the liability of finding and folding up into a small pile at the end of the bed for him.

‘I had sex with a dude, which the whole universe is going to see...’

‘I sincerely doubt that the viewership will be that large.’

‘Not helping, Rook!’ Ben snapped out.

Rook merely sighed. ‘Why not transform into Alien X after we leave here and destroy every copy ever made?’ he suggested.

Ben peered out at him from under the safety of the scrunched up duvet and made a face as he saw Rook drag the last of the Proto-Armour onto his well-muscled form. Well. There was a sight he would never be able to erase from his imagination ever again. Because...

He liked a dude. Had banged a dude. Or rather, the dude had banged him. Annnd Kevin was going to get so much mileage outta this...if he ever found out.

‘Only if I can get Bellacious to agree,’ he said dully. ‘I dunno whether he’s gonna think erasing sex tapes of me as something worthy of his time. Serena might...but then again she sees herself as the spokesperson for love and compassion and has the convoluted logic to match. She might actually think the universe could benefit in some way from other aliens seeing me take it up the butt.’

Rook stared at him. And then leant over and patted whatever stray tuff of hair he could find poking through the cocoon Ben had wrapped himself up inside. ‘It will be alright. You can but try.’

Ben moaned and thumped his head against the nearest pillow he could find. ‘Well,’ he said, his mouth firmly muffled by the material, ‘at least they’ve got no good reason to keep us here, right?’

And as though to prove him right, the door suddenly swung open.

Ben stared at the yawning gap it left behind dully. ‘Are these aliens really stupid, after all?’ he asked. ‘Like Animo levels of stupid?’

Rook shook his head, a look of shock painted on his own face. ‘No, just overconfident.’ Then he scowled. ‘And also, apparently, not quite stupid enough to grant me access to my Proto-Tool.’

Ben sighed. ‘Well, there goes my excuse for not getting dressed.’

He wiggled over to the edge of the bed, and stupidly, even though Rook had already seen him naked, hoisted himself upright with the covers wrapped round him like a shroud. Only to wobble, his hand shooting out to grip the mattress as he leaned over slightly and groaned. Determined, he straightened and took a step. And promptly fell over.

Slightly bug-eyed, he and Rook stared at each other.

Then the Revonnahgander bent down, nearly in a bow, and offered out his hand a little meekly. ‘Do you require assistance?’

From his position on the floor, Ben glowered.

 

\--------------------------

 

‘Sex with another guy is over-rated,’ Ben ranted a few minutes later. ‘Seriously, four out of ten, would not recommend.’

He yelped, arms clasping round Rook’s neck for balance as the Revonnahgander ducked down behind a sheet of metal, gunfire blazing overhead in lines of laser yellow.

‘Really,’ his partner said dryly. ‘Because you seemed to enjoy a lot of it. And at any rate, it is only the aftermath of one specific act you are having trouble dealing with, rather than the fact that you had sex with a ‘guy.’’ He paused and then leant over to chip a nearby alien’s shoulder with a well-aimed blast of his now-recovered Proto-Tool. ‘At any rate, I am sure that I deserve a higher rating than a _four_.’

Ben squeezed his neck apologetically - though not too hard because Rook was wearing that look of utter concentration on his face, the one that said he didn’t want to bungle his next shot. ‘Sorry,’ he said quietly.

Rook fired off his next shot, smiling triumphantly as it caused his opponent to drop his gun. ‘As am I - I do not enjoy the thought of hurting you.’

‘We’re still going to destroy every camera in this place, right?’ Ben asked fervently.

Rook’s grin became razor-thin. ‘Oh yes.’

The next shot he got off caused a series of purple sparks to frizzle over a large and rather important-looking control panel, after which, without warning, a small, familiar beep sounded. Almost as one, the pair of them spun round to glance down at Ben’s watch and smile. Or in Ben’s case, grin. For in the centre of the screen, the angry-looking red lines of before had been dyed a vivid green.

‘C’mon baby,’ Ben crowed, ‘gimme something good.’

 

\--------------------------

 

Ben was happy. He had received Pesky Dust for his troubles and honestly, putting sex-crazed aliens to sleep and making them believe they had sentenced themselves to a life of celibacy within their dreams, well, it felt a lot like karmic destiny to him. Besides, it wasn’t as though they weren’t going to wake up. Eventually.

‘It’s all gone, right?’ he asked Rook.

‘I have erased every trace of our stay that I can find,’ Rook reassured him, fingers thumping out what looked to be a set of complicated jargon on the keypad in front of him. ‘No video footage remains, and I have sent a message asking for Plumber headquarters to be ready to receive our new prisoners.’ His lips quirked. ‘I hope they find their new quarters accommodating, especially I sincerely doubt they will be allowed access to pornography there.’

Ben sighed and rolled his shoulders. ‘I don’t care either way. I just wanna go home.’

Rook looked at him. And Ben sighed, seeing a question hanging on his face.

‘What is it?’

Rook fidgeted. Actually fidgeted. Ben couldn’t remember the last time he had seen the guy look so ill at ease in his own body.

’Ben, I do not feel as though it is healthy to pretend that nothing has happened between us.’

Ben wanted to say something snide like ‘oh gee, didn’t realise you also studied psychology at the Plumber’s academy as well.’ But instead he shook his head, gave Rook a serious look and sighed. ‘Really? Because what else needs to be said, Rook? It happened, we can’t change it-’

‘Do you want to change it?’ Rook’s voice was quiet, but it cut in like steel. And Ben hesitated, reading the angry slant of Rook’s narrowed eyes as bull-headed determination, the kind that always preceded him losing his temper and yelling at a criminal.

Too bad then, that Ben was in no mood for an interrogation.

‘What do you want from me?!’ he snapped, taking care not to make any of his usual exasperated movements. He still felt unsteady on his feet and he didn’t really want to have to spend the rest of the day clinging to Rook’s neck. ‘I can’t – we can’t – do this! I’m a hero, I like girls, take your pick, there’s a whole scope of varied reasons why I should have kept my big mouth shut and waited for the Plumbers to charge in and rescue us, like they would have eventually, instead of...instead of...’ he trailed off, abruptly losing his bluster.

And now it was Rook's turn to sigh. ‘I warned you,’ he reminded him, ‘that your perception of yourself would change if we went through with this.’

‘Yeah, well you didn’t exactly give a very firm ‘no’ at the time,’ muttered Ben.

Rook closed his eyes. ‘No,’ he agreed. ‘I did not. It was very selfish of me, and for that I am sorry. But not as sorry, perhaps, as I should be.’

Ben looked at the floor. ‘No, it was my idea,’ he said in a small voice, ‘I did this. I changed us.’ But into what, he couldn’t vocalise, couldn't even _think_.

The sound of Rook’s boot rang out against the steel-plated floor and Ben felt him step into his personal space, a small wave of heat passing directly into Ben’s side just by his presence. It was scary how keenly attuned he was to all the small breaths that now passed between them, how quick he was to identify the slight shudder in the air that dipped whenever Rook spoke. Had it always been that way? Or was he simply more aware of him now that he’d slept with him?

 ‘Is change always such a bad thing?’ Rook asked. ‘After all, you have been no stranger to the presence of it. You have been through more changes than many humans on your home-world experience in a lifetime. And I believe meeting me was a vast change as well. You had always worked as part of a team before. And then you had to accustom yourself to being part of a duo.’

Ben eyed him. ‘I don’t think having sex with each other was what Grandpa had in mind when he paired us up.’

‘No, but I cannot regret it.’ Rook seemed to flush and look away after he spoke, for which Ben was grateful. He had been about to have a panic attack at how level-headed the guy sounded, as though Ben was nothing more than some Revonnahgander girl who had come to perch on his window.

‘I’m not suddenly gonna start dating, or be ready to walk off with you into the sunset,’ Ben said bluntly. ‘I don’t think I can do that. I could barely do that with Julie, and I liked her a lot. But maybe one day I will be able to do that, even if you’re not half as hot as her-' he smirked at the glare Rook threw him – ‘but for now, I just wanna drink smoothies and kick bad-guy butt-’

‘I too, enjoy these things-’

‘So continue to enjoy them! With me. And maybe, well...’

‘You did imply that you wanted a blow-job earlier,’ Rook said, his voice not quite coaxing, but firmer, slightly more confident in its cascade of sound.

Ben coughed. ‘W-well, yeah. Maybe we could do stuff like that...from time to time.’

It wasn’t a promise. Or any kind of guarantee. But looking at Rook’s smile just then, and the soft sort of happiness it seemed to draw into his expression, Ben couldn’t help but feel as though he had won some sort of prize.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my Goooood, I wanted this to be a lot shorter than it was, but everytime I tried ruthlessly cutting out paragraphs, Ben ended up appearing a lot more passive than he should have been. Bleurgh.
> 
> Aaaaand on an entirely unrelated note, this is what happens when you re-read some old livejournal fanfictions you have saved in your browser's bookmarks folder from waaaay back, like 2008ish. I remember when the 'aliens made them do it' trope ran rampant in fandoms like 'Stargate Atlantis' and 'Doctor Who.' Though judging by a quick perusal of the tag on this site, things haven't changed much since then. May the tag forever live.


End file.
